Music, romance make Maria role special for Red Mountain Theatre Company 'Sound of Music' star

Kristen Bowden Sharp learned the guitar for her role as Maria, but she's not getting to use it. 'I'm singing 'Do-Re-Mi' in a key that I can't even capo that high,' she says with a laugh. 'So I'm still faking guitar. I just can't put it in the right key.' (Special)

The first — and last — time that Kristen Bowden Sharp was in “The Sound of Music,” it was on a national tour of the beloved musical.

Just off the national tour of “Parade,” Bowden auditioned for “The Sound of Music” in 2002.

“I toured as Liesl,” she recalls. “I turned 21 on that tour. Craziness.”

Eight years later, it’s craziness in so many other ways. Namely, Sharp is the mother of twin 3-year-olds.

And beginning Thursday, she’s playing the leading role of Maria in Red Mountain Theatre Company’s production of “The Sound of Music.”

“It’s so special because I’m being so picky about the things I’m doing since my children are my first calling,” Sharp says. “For some reason, it’s just who I am right now, everything about her — her love for her children and listening to God’s voice. And, of course, this music is in my blood. And the romantic part of the story, too, is fun for any girl. I think it’s just perfect timing.”

Sharp grew up idolizing Julie Andrews in the movie version of “The Sound of Music,” the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the real-life Maria von Trapp, a nun who left the sisterhood, married and became matriarch of a singing brood of step-children.